Category: Identity/healing the past

Original Good

Published on by lindseybiggsLeave a comment

I listened to a great audio chat on spirituality.com Tuesday  (“What is True Manhood?” by David Stevens, CSB) that referred to the Adam and Eve story as the story of original good.

I love this idea because it shows the inherent goodness of man and woman.  Man and woman were created good, in God’s own image and likeness.  To me, the story of Adam and Eve describes the nature of the serpent – that which tries to entice our thought into believing we aren’t the spiritual, beloved children of God.  It might say that God isn’t our creator, so therefore God isn’t going to take care of us.

What a lie is this.  The entire burden of thinking we have to care for ourselves can be lifted off when we realize that God is our divine, loving parent, our Father-Mother.  It is God’s job to supply us with all that we need – to eat, to be clothed, to express our purpose, and even the proper functioning of our bodies.  And God does do this.

Mary Baker Eddy, a Christian healer and teacher (1821-1910), wrote, “Is civilization only a higher form of idolatry, that man should bow down to a flesh-brush, to flannels, to baths, diet, exercise, and air?”[i]

Jesus said, “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”[ii]

This points us to God, the source of all goodness.  We are each the beloved child of God.  And abundant goodness, harmony, happiness, purpose and health are the rights of our being and existence.  And there isn’t a being or existence that doesn’t include these attributes, since God is the one and only creator.

All the good that God includes, we include, too, as His reflection.  We have this spiritually, within our relationship, our oneness to God.  When we try to obtain these things materially, we discover they aren’t lasting and are fleeting.

Keeping our eye on God, we cannot be enticed by the serpent (or suggestions in our consciousness).  We find original good and only good to be all there is and all that we can experience.

[i] Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 174

[ii] Holy Bible, King James Version, Matthew 6:31

My Morning Runs

Published on by lindseybiggsLeave a comment

A couple of weeks ago I decided to start jogging in the morning with our dog. I’ve never liked exercise very much, so I decided to think about it from a more spiritual perspective. I realized that exercise is the expression of Life and activity. The definition of exercise is “to put into use” (Random House Dictionary). God is Life itself, and God’s creation reflects and expresses Him. I knew that life and vitality are a natural part of God’s kingdom.

So I headed out on my run. Well, by the second run I was very sore and my knee had started to hurt. In fact, I was having trouble running at all because my knee was troubling me.

The next morning I was feeling a lot clearer about things and a lot lighter, so I went out on a run again. As I was running, I prayed to know that spiritual being and existence are all there is, and that God is Spirit and God’s creation therefore entirely spiritual. I knew that if being is spiritual then everything pertaining to being, including running, creativity, joy and every faculty and function of existence, is spiritual, harmonious and perfect.

My run was joyful and peaceful that day. When I felt like walking, I did so, and I was able to enjoy the beautiful scenery around me.

I have been running freely ever since, not for health reasons, but rather for the joy and freedom of expressing Life, God.

I’m so grateful for this new aspect of life that I get to enjoy!

Person versus Principle

Published on by lindseybiggs2 Comments

Today I’ve been working (mentally) on seeing and knowing that there is only one Person!  In fact the limitation of any school of thought or religion comes from too great of a sense of person instead of Principle.  When we focus our thought on Principle, we are seeing what God is doing and knowing; we are seeing the Truth and a greater, expansive sense of Life.  Too great of a sense of person or personality separate our thought from the one God who is also the one Person.

There is one Mind, one Ego, or consciousness.  And everything is the manifestation of this one Mind.  Everything is in essence made up of God’s thoughts, God’s ideas, and what God sees and knows.

Does this mean that our being and existence is annihilated?  On the contrary, we are each the individual expression of the One Being.  God is the substance, nature, and essence of who we are.  We are essentially made up of spiritual qualities – love, joy, peace, harmony, creativity, spontaneity, life, vitality, energy, principle, honesty, integrity, and so on.  Each of us expresses Deity in a truly unique way – and this is our identity and individuality.  God’s creation or manifestation wouldn’t be complete with out each and everyone one of us.  Which is why we exist permanently and eternally in divine Mind.

That which is based on person instead of Principle is erroneous.  For instance to believe that Jesus as a person is our personal savior is limiting.  But to realize that his teachings are what saves us – what destroys evil and sin – is what enables us to “go and do likewise”[i] as he instructed.

“Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.”[ii] Here again, Jesus is pointing us to God; he was always trying to get us to look to God, follow God, and be obedient to God.  If we worship a person, other than the one Person or Principle, which is God, this is idolatry.  Jesus was teaching and revealing a Principle.  And when we look to that Principle we get the same results he did.

Stephen, Philip, and Paul all did the same.  They didn’t know Jesus personally, they weren’t taught by him personally, but that didn’t change the effect of his teachings because his teachings were based on a Principle.  They preached the “good news” and healed many that were sick or diseased.

Does Principle change?  Has it disappeared and gone away?  No.  Just as the principle of math doesn’t ever go anywhere, so divine Principle is still here, present, and applicable.  As we look to Principle, we see more of what God is doing, seeing, and knowing.  And anything that comes to our thought as another person other than God, the one Person, is false and stems from evil or what some call the “devil” which doesn’t have substance or reality.  These thoughts may come up like “she is bad” or “I feel sick” always presenting themselves as another ego.

Paul says, “For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:”[iii]

Here Paul is denying this ego or being separate from God.  He is saying that it is the Christ – the spirit of God – that makes up his identity and individuality.  And therefore he is and can only be and do like God.

And the same is true for us.

[i] Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p. 25

[ii] The Holy Bible – King James Version John 12:44

[iii] The Holy Bible – King James Version Galatians 2:19